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The Google Play Store's dark theme has gotten even darker
It’s not quite AMOLED dark, but it’s getting there
Over the years, the Google Play Store has gotten a few theme refreshes that have either elicited passionate or apathetic reactions. It can be a sign of a bigger design trend when Google shakes things up, such as integrating Material You’s dynamic colors into the app. Back in 2021, when Material You was officially unveiled, the store’s design started changing rapidly, getting the pill-shaped search box we’re so used to now. In a slightly less-than-revolutionary move, changes have been made to the app’s dark theme, making it much darker in the process.
Android 13 DP1 opens up dynamic icon theming to third-party apps
Just be ready for a big mix of themed and un-themed icons
Google has confirmed that Material You is set to grow beyond the bounds of the Pixel family, but that doesn’t mean it’s done evolving and growing in new ways. An experiment in Android 12 Beta 3 expands the reach of the dynamic theming system to home screen icons, but only for Google's own apps. Now with Android 13, third-party apps are free to create their own theming-friendly icons so you can have the two-tone icon packs you’ve always wanted without installing a custom launcher.
Our eyeballs have been patiently waiting for a darker version of Search on the web for years. While a few users got a peek at it earlier this summer, as of today the option for a dark-themed Google search should be coming to everyone. You can try it out now. Right now! Go! Do it! Why are you still here?!
Chrome gets even more colorful with its big Material You revamp
A recent Canary update for Chrome on Android adds dynamic color theming everywhere
Google announced Material You at this year's I/O conference, and this post-Material Design chapter looks like it's arguably the company's most ambitious move yet. Material You is all about embracing emotion and expression, using humanistic principles like soft shapes and dynamic color theming that adapt to your wallpaper. We've seen Google's radical new design language trickle down to its apps over the last few months — one of them is Chrome, which saw a sprinkle of color extraction when we covered it last month. Now it looks like Google is going all in with Chrome's Material You makeover.
Android 12 is dropping manual font and icon customization in favor of Material You
It's dynamic themes from here on out
The wait for Android 12 grows shorter by the day, and thanks to monthly beta updates, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect this fall. Google's introducing a whole new look with Material You, complete with automatic customization options based on your wallpaper. Unfortunately, it seems like some of the tools available in Android 11 won't be making the jump to the latest version.
You can finally set a custom Material You accent color in Android 12, but your choices are limited
Beta 3 also includes a redesigned wallpaper picker
Google is delivering its first significant visual redesign in years with Android 12, and along with it comes a theme engine capable of customizing your smartphone in just a few simple steps. Material You pulls its slate of color choices from your wallpaper to customize icons, menus, and more. With Android 12 Beta 3, you can finally choose a custom set of accent colors, though some might still find the possibilities just a little too limiting.
Android 12 beta 2 debuted the new operating system's much-anticipated automated theming system, which adjusts the colors of your phone's entire interface to match and complement the background wallpaper of your choice. We've been playing with it for the last day, but for a perfect example of why you'll want to check it out, we turn to Ars Technica Reviews Editor and Android Police alumnus Ron Amadeo.
Google Discover will get a major theming overhaul in Android 12
Google Doodles spread their background color down the feed
Google is focusing on the visual experience of Android 12. The latest fruit of that endeavor is a bit of fresh paint on the Discover feed. Google Doodles, the little shifting variations on the Google logo, have appeared at the top of the feed for a while now. But with the latest version of Google search installed on Android 12, Doodles now theme the background of the feed itself. Neat.
Your OnePlus phone will soon get some stylish new looks to choose from
A theme store will arrive in "the next major OS update"
OnePlus phones offer a bit of customization in their OxygenOS software. But according to a post on the manufacturer's forum, they're about to get a whole lot more. OnePlus has announced that a theme store will be added in the next major Oxygen OS update, mirroring similar features in Samsung's Galaxy custom software.
Android 12's hidden conversation widget finally shows up for some in DP3
With some new dynamic color-changing chops
While Android 12 is already available in its third iteration (Developer Preview 3), there are still many hidden options and features under the hood that we might only get our hands on officially once the first beta launches next month. The so-called conversation widgets are among them. We first saw them as part of mockups ahead of the first Android 12 build, and avid coders managed to activate them in the previous developer previews. But now it looks like these widgets are becoming available to a few people using Developer Preview 3 without any hacks, as spotted by 9to5Google. They're among the first publicly available interface elements to automatically change the color based on your wallpaper.
Here’s what Android 12's wallpaper-based themes will look like
A developer managed to reverse-engineer and activate theming
Before the first Android 12 developer preview landed last week, a leak suggested that the upcoming release could sport a significant redesign with colors based on the active wallpaper. And while the initial Android 12 release doesn't look too different from its predecessor, there are quite some changes hidden beneath the surface, like a redesigned lockscreen and notification shade as well as UI elements dunked into baby blue — initial evidence of advanced theming options. Thanks to some digging by ROM developer @kdrag0n on Twitter, it looks like the leak is correct.
The system-wide dark theme was one of the headlining features of Android 10 when it was released in 2019. The exact implementation varied by device, but on Google's Pixel theme, the dark theme was completely black. Google appears to be tweaking this, as the first Android 12 beta changes the primary color to a blueish tint.
The system settings are feeling a little blue on Android 12. While not too much has changed when it comes to the general layout and iconography, the background has gained a light blue look, visible in all panels except for the top level menu. Coupled with the light blue notification shade (or a dark blue variant when using dark mode), we presume that Google might be prepping some theming options.
Gboard is about to get a new look on Android
The design previously leaked as part of an APK teardown
Google has been working on a Gboard redesign for more than two months now, and it looks like the company is finally starting to roll it out to the first few beta testers currently using version 9.8.07 of the app. The new look trades the Roboto font for Product Sans and fits the latest revisions to Google's Material Theme much better.
OnePlus still makes using Android 10's dark mode needlessly annoying
Where's my dark mode toggle, OnePlus?
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Ever since the company's short-lived relationship with Cyanogen, Inc. collapsed, OnePlus has shipped a custom build of Android called OxygenOS on its phones. It's generally regarded as one of the best manufacturer skins, since it adds useful features on top of stock Android, while not modifying the core Android experience (which can sometimes break apps). However, there is one aspect of OxygenOS that is a clear regression compared to stock Android: dark mode.
The most recent monthly security update for Pixels was more than just security fixes. It was Google's second 'Pixel Drop,' with several new features and fixes, including a new option to enable the system-wide dark theme automatically at a specific time each day. However, the automatic mode doesn't seem to work with all apps.
Opera has a handful of different browsers for Android, each with a slightly different use case. Opera Touch is an experimental app, with a gesture interface reminiscent of Paranoid Android's "PIE' gestures from back in the day. If you're using the browser on Android 10, you might be happy to know it can now sync with the system theme.
At Google I/O this year, Google finally announced a dark mode for Android. We've been expecting this ever since the first Q build leaked, but the settings app has always suggested that there could be more than only a white and dark mode. Up until Beta 3, there was a complete theme selector where more options apart from "Dark" and "Light" could've shown up. However, the recently released Beta 4 does away with this interface and instead switches to a simple toggle for Dark Theme.
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- The file is now available on APK Mirror, though as many readers have pointed out, it may not force the fixes on your device, even after clearing cache and restarting the app. Your mileage may vary.
Using beta software is more often than not a gamble. It's nice to be able to check out all the new features, but some things may be terribly broken. That's the case with Android Q's universal dark mode implementation. As early adopters noticed, there's no toggle to easily enable or disable it, meaning users were stuck with whatever they had chosen on Pie before updating (unless they used adb to change it). Google Photos was one of the most obvious victims of Q's dark mode. The app looked like a chimera of light and dark, but the latest update has now fixed most of it.
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As Cyber Monday was wearing down, Google was already winding up some app updates. A new version of Gboard began rolling out late in the afternoon, and with it comes the long-anticipated handwriting support, meaning we can finally uninstall the separate handwriting keyboard. There are also some tweaks to the emoji picker. As we look to the teardown, there are signs of a new theme system with a few new options for more visual control, a new autospace feature, integration with the Motion Stills app, and more.